Breaking Trail: Women Who Shaped the Adirondacks (Revisited)

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re revisiting a conversation that still resonates: our interview with Peggy Lynn and Sandra Weber, co-authors of Breaking Trail: Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks.For generations, Adirondack history has centered on guides, industrialists, conservationists, and explorers — most of them men. But women were here all along. They were lumber camp cooks and lobbyists, poets and reformers, business leaders and environmental advocates. They shaped communities, protected wild lands, founded institutions, and quietly transformed the culture of the North Country.This updated edition of Breaking Trail brings their stories back into the light — and invites all of us to ask: whose stories are still waiting to be told?What you’ll hear in this episodeHow Peggy and Sandy first realized Adirondack women’s stories were missing from the historical recordWhy now was the right time to bring Breaking Trail back for a new generationThe creative partnership behind the book — and how songwriting helped shape the storytellingThe mystery of Esther Mountain and the elusive Esther CombsLumber camp cooks, 18-hour days, and women who could go from hip boots to ball gownsThe legacy of women like Grace Hudowalski and Inez Milholland — now honored with High PeaksWhy women’s history belongs in the mainstream narrative, not on the sidelinesResources:Notable women mentioned in this episode include Emily Russell, Anne LaBastille, Mary Brown, Margaret Emerson, Alice Patton Green, Lydia Martin Smith, Mother Johnson, Nellie Staves, Esther Combs, Grace Hudowalski, Inez Milholland, Joan Payne, Fran Yardley, Betsy Folwell, and Barbara McMartin.Breaking Trail: Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks – available from Purple Mountain PressJohn Brown Farm State Historic Site (Lake Placid)Adirondack Experience: The Museum on Blue Mountain LakePaul Smith’s CollegeProduced by NOVA